Mengunin er verri í dag en í gær.

to be

Breakdown of Mengunin er verri í dag en í gær.

• í gær: yesterday
• en: than
• í dag: today

Questions & Answers about Mengunin er verri í dag en í gær.

What is the difference between mengun and mengunin in this sentence?

Mengun means pollution in general.
Mengunin is the definite form: the pollution.

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually a suffix on the noun:

• mengun – pollution (indefinite)
• mengunin – the pollution (definite, nominative singular)

So Mengunin er verri… literally: “The pollution is worse…”.
Using the definite form suggests you are talking about a specific, known pollution situation (for example, the pollution in your city).

Why is the article attached to the noun (mengunin) instead of a separate word like “the”?

Icelandic normally does not use a separate word like English the.
Instead, it adds a definite ending:

• masculine: bíll → bíllinn (car → the car)
• feminine: bók → bókin (book → the book)
• neuter: barn → barnið (child → the child)

Here mengun is feminine, so the nominative singular definite ending is -in:

• mengun → mengun
  • in → mengunin (the pollution)